Fitting Fiero Seats in a B

According the heritage Certificate I have obtained for the car, the car has always had an Autumn Leaf coloured interior (seats, side panels and also carpet). As far as I can make out the seats were originally covered in vinyl, as were the door cards. The headlining however was a very pale grey colour. In the early 1990s the carpets, seats and side panels were re-upholstered albeit in original colours, but the headlining does not appear to have been touched. The only possible difference in the new materials used was the addition of a cloth insert in the seat covers. I don't think this was present on the original seat covers - instead this section would have been vinyl as well. Some pictures of the old interior are shown below:

There isn't anything wrong with this colour at all, and for the Mallard Green paint colour, I believe it suits the car quite well. However during my ownership, the seat cushions became less and less supportive and my thoughts occasionally turned to a possible renovation of the interior...

But, what to do? Just fix the cushion or go for a full re-fit of the interior? Tricky! I have always loved the stripped down interior of classic rally and race cars and would love to convert the car, but could never justify stripping the interior as apart from the sagging cushions the different bits were all in a good state. However with the "post-France" bodywork modifications starting to make the car look a little bit more like a racer than perhaps a standard car, the thought of mimicking that look inside started to become more justifiable. However, the car is a daily driver, I don't have another car, so I did not want to make it too raw inside. I needed to include for some creature comfort, therefore, whilst the interior would be kept simple and with racing 'design cues' it couldn't be too bare...

I think every classic car owner fantasises about having leather seats in their car of some description - it just feels *right*. For most people, the MGOC do a number of different styles of seat all based on the correct seats for ther model year, and which would probably fit the bill perfectly. For me though, they weren't 'race' enough and most importantly, the most obvious choice - the MGOC 'sports seats' - (the ones with lateral support to 'hug you' to the seat) I just don't find comfortable - I tried the same seat manufactured by three different companies and still didn't like them. I don't mind spending money on the BGT for worthwhile causes but I do begrudge paying £600 for a pair of seats, which although they look good, are going to give me backache. Hmm... further thought needed.

ALTERNATIVE SEAT OPTIONS

From the MG Enthusiast's BBS, which is used by a large number of American MG owners, it has become well known that Mazda MX5/Miata seats fit into the narrow floor pan of the MGB and also, the seats from a Pontiac Fiero... These two seemed to me to be the best options. On the track day back in August 2002, I met an owner of a BGT V8 conversion, whose car was fitted with MX5 seats, they looked pretty good, but the back was a little narrow for my liking. But still definitely a possibility. Further to this, I started to search for Pontiac Fieros, a car not that common to these shores...

As luck would have it, I found a supply of Fiero seats from the Fiero Factory. These guys specialise in Fiero maintenance and repair in the UK and also manufacture kit cars from Fiero parts! When I went down there, they had a Dodge Viper that totally had me convinced until I started to notice a few "Ford Granada" details inside, but outside you'd never know. Good stuff!

MY FIERO SEATS

I sat in a set of seats in a couple of cars that day, and jeez! The Fiero seats were without doubt one of the most comfortable car seats I have ever sat in! Job done and I came away with a set! They were used for a time in my lounge as recliners in front of the TV (nowhere to put them until I sorted out getting them in the car) and to testify their comfort, regular visitors to the house would always forego the sofa in preference for the Fiero seats because they were "Sooooo comfortable". 

In terms of second-hand condition, they weren't too bad, with only the velour cover of the drivers side seat being a little worn, but most importantly, no damage to any of the foam. Unlike the MG seats you cannot replace the foam, its moulded into the seat. If you do plan to fit Fiero seats to your car, buy the best condition seat you can! I paid £100 cash, a fair price in my opinion. This is the driver's seat (note the wear on the base cushion):

WHAT STYLE?

To make these fit the inside of an MG, they needed re-covering. I hummed and hahhed for about 6 months over how to do this, bouncing ideas between full leather and half leather (possibly alacantra), styles, colours etc. In the end I went for full leather, black with grey inserts. But who to get to do the recovering? This proved to be a real bind and part of the reason why it took so long to decide what style and colour etc to do them in. All the quotes I received from companies in the UK were in the region of £500 - £700. I just couldn't afford that at the time and some of the options I wanted to include to the seat covers were pushing the cost up further.

Fiero seats have an option where speakers can be fitted in the headrests and also race harness can be used in conjunction with these seats if the seat back is modified slightly. Any new leather covers would need to take into consideration these options. In the end, I went specialist! Over in the USA is a chap who has a business re-upholstering Pontiac seats. He does a kit that can include any option you want, in any style you want and any colour you want. I had a few reservations about buying from such a long distance, and bombarded BBS' members for opinions - all of which came back positive! I plucked up the courage and bought a leather seat cover kit for £350 including P&P from Mr Mikes. The style I chose is known as ‘GT’. The leather used is from the Mercedes Coupes and 4x4's and appears to be good quality. I opted for grey and black leather, with harness slots (thinking along the race theme) and perforations in the leather in front of the speaker positions.

The covers arrived 'inside - out' to put on the seat and were of reasonable quality, stitching etc ok. The kit comes complete with everything that you are going to need and is exceptionally well thought out. It includes the following:

• Cotton to repair the side bolster foam (remember I mentioned about possibility of damaged foam)
• Replacement foam for the seat base (although the seats are made of moulded foam, the seat covers had extra foam in them which was used to make the different seat types for individual Fiero models. This replacement foam is used in place of that stitched into the original seat-base cover. The foam stitched into the seat back however, is re-used)
• Leather care products
• Fitting tools
• DVD instruction video. Extra instructions available on the website.

PREPARATION OF SEAT

Best viewed as a series of thumbnails with description. You know what its like when you get into something - you forget to take the pics - DOH! I did take some at various stages, which I have included below (I have got some more shots actually, but they were taken on a SLR and not scanned yet). 

This is the seat back, with holes cut for the speakers and belt slots. You can see the headrest is one piece with the seat back. The seat is formed of metal with the foam moulded to the metal.

The squares of foam you can see on the back are moulded in shape and are cut out of the old seat cloths to keep them reasonably consistent, although you could replace them.

The black bits on the bolsters are repairs I made to the foam. In actual fact my seats were in excellent shape considering they were around 15 years old and the foam was not worn, but I built up the bolsters using layers of cotton and duct-tape to ensure they filled the covers properly. The same technique was used on the seat base bolsters, and I knew from this experience that you had to build out the bolsters to avoid baggy-ness in the covers. (I will get some pictures sorted of the bases.)

Cutting the holes for the speakers needed a Stanley knife blade to cut the foam. The hole behind where you can see is bigger than the aperture, The speakers are 3.5" dual cone speakers made by Inifinity.

The holes for the seat belt slots (just visible under the head rest at shoulder distance apart) needed a Dremel tool to cut away the metal in the seat back.

Word of warning: the blade blunts quickly in the foam due to a plastic netting material. It will still cut the top of your finger off though - believe me! OUCH! And Sellotape is not a good sticking plaster!

The back of the headrest showing the seat belt slots a little more clearly and also the hole at the back of the speaker bits.

Here you can see the side bolsters and the profile of the foams cut out of the old covers a little better. The speakers are visible in the headrest. I sprayed the foam black around the speakers in case you could see it through the covers. This was not necessary however, because the covers are double skinned.

The speakers were fitted to some model years of Fieros and it appears that the seats had the gaps in the metal even if not fitted. I just slit through to the metal in the right place and found this hole here, which I used to route the speaker cable through. It also doubles as an air balance to allow the speaker to work correctly. The leather covers have perforations here for the same reason.

All wired in!

TA DA! Finished! Apologies for the poor picture quality, I haven't been able to successfully brighten the picture without screwing the contrast, but you can just about see the best bits..! I am very pleased with the results.

Speaker housings... (The creased leather was a result of shipping and has now largely disappeared.)

Back of the seat showing the perforations in the leather for the rear speaker ducts.

FITTING THEM TO THE BGT

To fit them to the B (the seats also fit Midgets and Cs by the way, but the following still applies) you have two choices. Modify the seat runners, or bolt them straight to the floor using new holes. By modifying the seat runners however, I could use the existing holes in the BGT's floor pan, so the seats literally just replace the old seats being removed! For the modified seat runners I went to Mr Anthony (Tony) Barnhill from The Autoist.

The seat runners took ages to arrive because of the panic surrounding Sept 11th meant that US post was really slow at the time, so best to use a courier if you have access to one. I sprayed the runners satin black and they look very groovy now...! The seat runners have four legs, of which the rear two are L-shaped and the front two are "inline". The modifications involve removing the two rear legs and replacing with two spare front legs so all four are "inline" with the runner. The reason I went to USA to get these legs is because Fiero seats aren't that common in this country and the spare legs aren't readily available.

THE RUDE QUESTION OF MONEY

I often think people would be more adventurous with things slightly different to the norm, if they were presented with the costs of such an option up front - no one likes to be stung with hidden bills, much easier to be able to do it all in one go, up front. In my mind there is no doubt I have the better option of seat (for my circumstance) compared to say the MGOC Sports Recliner. My choice of cover may not be to all tastes, but don't let that put you off what is otherwise a good looking seat in my opinion. As I previously mentioned I did not go for the MGOC seats because I do not find them comfortable, otherwise they would have most likely been my choice.

Here's a breakdown of what I have paid to install my Fiero Seats:

• Seats = £100
• Seat Runners - £50
• Leather Covers = £350
• Extra Customs and Excise Bill (not factored in originally - grrrrr *&£%£!!!!!) = £90
• Seat Heaters = £40

TOTAL = £630

I have not added the cost of the speakers here, because they would not be fitted to the MGOC seats and besides, this would be related to how much you want to spend. Also I realise the Seat Heaters here were a good deal and looking on the web, perhaps what you would pay for the option on the MGOC seats is more like the cost you would expect to pay otherwise. Bear in mind though that many modern cars have a heated seat option and scrapyards can be a Mecca for those prepared to spend an afternoon gathering the bits they need.

In comparison then, the MGOC equivalent seats are £685.0 (Leather 'Sports Recliner, one colour only including headrests) with an additional massive £127.50 for the seated heat option = £812.50.

THE REST OF THE INTERIOR

The seats look damn fine in my opinion, but that was outside the car not inside it. I needed to get them in the car, but they wouldn't look right with the rest of the tan interior. I needed to do a full interior overhaul!

I had already decided my colour scheme, grey carpets, black and grey seats, black door cards and foot well mats. The carpets eventually came from the MGOC, but I have to say I was not overly impressed. To be fair the pile of the carpet was very thick and luxurious, the sound-proofing very thick and appears to work well and where fitted the piping around the carpet pieces were well stitched. However, the set I bought was the 'Ultimate Carpet Set' and was damned expensive. It was supposed to be moulded and of good fit, but I had to cut many panels to fit correctly and it took me three weeks of working in the evenings and weekends to complete! Ok, I should mention here that those three weeks also included my totally stripping the car's interior, sanding the inside, painting with 2 coats of rustproof primer followed by the correct mallard green paint and THEN re-carpeting it...

But, the fit of some pieces was still appalling. The two worst pieces were the rear arch pieces and the driver's foot well piece, that went against the transmission tunnel side. The rear arches just had too much material, and great chunks needed cutting off - the sound proofing was cut properly, so why not the carpet..? There were no holes cut in the carpet either, yet there were in the soundproofing - why not..? The driver's foot well piece, was simply appalling!! Honestly, it looks nothing like the piece its supposed to fit. I have been commended several times on the fit I achieved, but it took a lot of time and energy spent sulking that I was having to hack up a £300 carpet set!

Other problems included no hole cut for the gear lever, and no instruction where to cut it. And where the thick pile carpet reached the end of some pieces, such as the transmission tunnel piece, the carpet was just folded over, not cut and 'piped' - this does no produce a very good, nor flush fit, and I had to test fit and again, hack away the excess to get a good fit..!

All in all the carpet looks how I thought it would, but it took a long time and lots of energy. I don't want to have to do this again in a hurry.

The door cards were a nicer job to do. I chose plain black door cards, with a new 'C-post' part that has a black section half way up it too, simple and classy. For the A and B posts a sheet of vinyl was used to trim over the metal. When we took the doorsill top pieces off, it was found that they were the correct pieces, made from hardwood, not the cheapo chipboard versions, often seen in later Bs. It was decided that these were to be re-used and were also covered in black vinyl.

I attempted to spray the grey vinyl for the headlining (not the central headlining itself but the pieces around the above the windows and screens), a tip I picked up from the BBS is that Ford Polar grey is a near as "dammit" colour match for the original colour scheme... Looks ok, but don't get the paint too thick, because it will go shiny - luckily its up top so you can't see it so much! Also it may help to wash the vinyl first as I got poor fixity in some areas, probably because of greasy bits of the old vinyl. Of course, washing the vinyl may solve your problems anyway!

DETAILS

Some fun bits here!

Underneath the carpet, I had to hide away the cables for the seat heaters and the speakers in the seats, the cables were stuck to the floor with duct tape and pop out where they are needed. The cables run down the back of the seat for the speakers where they link to crossover boxes, to divert power to the different cones within the speaker unit. The cables under the carpet then run to the stereo unit. The seat heater cables run to two neat little switches on the dash.

In addition to these I had long ago decided the BGT needed more light inside it to be a truly diverse Tourer. The overhead light in the rear and the dash light (cool though it looks) is just not sufficient - especially if you are carrying stuff in the foot wells, its too dark there to see anything. So I also ran cabling behind the side panels to fix an extra 6 lights in the car. Two in the front foot wells, two in the rear foot wells and two in the C posts. I intend to keep the original two lights as they are. For the lights I have not decided what to use. I was going to use MGOC supplied units, but had a brain wave in a local 'rude boy' shop buying speaker cable, and I noted that you can buy oval flush fitting indicator units which contain 6 very bright white LEDs in them... These may well look great in the BGT and I intend to test them out for a fit.

The door handles and window winders are brushed alloy and great for the race look. The door handles come from the MGBHive and the Window winders from Mike Satur. Pretty neat stuff..!

To fit yet are:

Safety harnesses (racing style in place of inertia reel belts),

Fire extinguisher,

Foot brace pad for the passenger...!

Rollcage? Undecided...

Pedal box from a later model to improve "heel-and-toe" driving!

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Copyright Phil Earl 2005